On the court and field, it’s all about the game. Every sprint, every point, every pass is an opportunity not to just win but to also catch the eyes of a recruiter. During a game the stakes feel higher than ever for any athlete chasing a college roster spot. But the college recruitment process is so much more than that: its hours of crafting emails, hard days at the gym, countless camps, and numerous failures all to feed a passion.
High school athletes are always vying for recognition from college recruiters; NHS junior Baron Walker is working hard to make this dream a reality. Aiden Brewer, an NHS senior, became a signed football player for the University of Indianapolis earlier this year. Both athletes believe that the most integral aspect of achieving their goals is their passion for their sport.
“I’ve been playing basketball since I was 3 years old. The love and passion that I have for it is what kept me going and I always had fun doing it,” said Walker.
Walker conveys how you have to be in for the long run and in it mentally and physically. It might not always be easy but if you want it enough, it will happen.
“Putting yourself out there is a grind and it’s all about having patience and working hard. It’s about sticking at it and knowing that everything is going to all work out,” said Walker.
Hard work and quality of gameplay is most often noticed by a lot of people. But something that is often overlooked in the college recruitment process which Aiden Brewer conveys through his committing experiences.
“I contacted a lot of coaches, and I went to quite a few camps. Which really helped get my name out there. Which made it so that coaches would come talk to me more,” said Brewer.
While patience is often important in everything in life, it’s especially shown through the recruiting process.
“You just gotta be patient with the recruiting process. It’s often really hard to get into contact with coaches, so you don’t know where you stand with them, but it’s important to reach out no matter what,”said Brewer.
The recruitment process has proven to often be very difficult with its own ups and downs. But Brewer has a mindset to help with this issue.
“A lot of kids are scared of failure, but it really doesn’t matter at the end of the day,” said Brewer,“The world’s still gonna revolve, it’s still going to be day and night so it really just doesn’t matter if you fail or not.”
As Brewer brought up, many kids hesitate to put themselves out there in fear of failure. Many don’t see the big achievements possible in the future. Brookelyn Grayson is a senior at NHS. Grayson plays varsity basketball and is now committed to play D1 softball for Duke University.
Grayson told The Current for an Athlete of The Week article, “Once I get to Duke, I know I am going to have to prove myself, because they are at such a high level I’m going to have to make an impact right away if I’m going to see playing time,”
